inside the yankees Jake Bird’s Yankees debut was a disaster, but he has a plan to rediscover his bullpen potential By Greg Joyce Published Feb. 20, 2026, 6:20 a.m. ET Jake Bird throws batting practice at Steinbrenner Field on Feb. 13, 2026. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post TAMPA — It is difficult enough to uproot your life in the middle of the season, being a Colorado Rockie one day and a New York Yankee the next.
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But then in between, Jake Bird boarded a redeye flight from Denver to Miami to join the Yankees, and hours after meeting all of his new teammates at loanDepot Park was thrown right into the fire to disastrous results — in the midst of the Yankees’ most brutal series of the season.
A few days and one more rough outing later, Bird was off to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, never to return to The Bronx the rest of the season.
“It was very frustrating, especially you get traded over and now I’m in the playoff picture, I’m excited and this is what I’ve been waiting to do my whole career,” Bird said this week at Steinbrenner Field.
